FIG. 1 illustrates a representative portion of a semiconductor chip trim and pin forming machine. One can purchase such a machine from ASM Asia Inc., 4302 E. Broadway Rd., Phoenix, Ariz., model AP50, or from Precision Technologies Inc. 1725 De La Cruz Blvd. #4, Santa Clara, Calif. 95050, models Matrix SS, FS, or FM. FIG. 1 identifies the following elements: Platen 40 is the portion of the press-type machine to moved up and down to stamp in the desired forming and trimming operations. Vertical action rod 42 is attached to a means for moving platen 40 into contact with the non movable table 44. IC forming and cutting die 44 are mounted to both the platen 40 and table 44. IC loading station 50 receives a set of ICs usually from the plastic encapsulation station and they are attached on a typical single leadframe. Trim stations 60 will trim off the excess encapsulation material and metal leadframe portions. Forming stations 70 will bend the leads of the ICs into various configurations like "SOJ" or DIP. Singulation station 80 will completely separate the ICs from the leadframe to become single packages or devices 10.
One skilled in the art will be familiar with the operation of the machine and its variations. Specifically, all processes or work station activities take place on a paced operation which is timed to the platen's 40 up and down cycles. When platen 40 is up, the conveyor system will move the leadframe/s forward, readying the ICs for their next step of operation or simply loading new leadframes in preparation for the assembly process. When the platen 40 is "punched down", the various work stations perform their various designed operations, cutting, shaping, cleaning, separating etc.
After the ICs have been separated, they are collected and forwarded to subsequent work stations. Such as lead finishing or solder coating, primary testing involving a large amount of tests and expensive slow equipment, and acceptable quality level tests examining for physical defects in the packages/ICs. Thereafter, the ICs are tested to determine which ones are defective.